A campaign to build some sort of monument to Sir George Dowty, a businessman who ran a factory in the island, has started.

Sir George retired to the Isle of Man in the 1970s, after buying Iloman Engineering in 1963.

The company went on to become one of the top employers, with a factory in Ballachrink, Onchan, now the home of the Triumph Group.

A group of his former employees in the UK want a memorial as a tribute to Sir George and his contribution to British aerospace. They will consider one for the island.

There has been interest from the Royal Air Force in dedicating a Battle of Britain memorial flyover in his honour, due to his contribution to the war effort.

Once he retired in 1972, he moved to the island and lived in Balladoole House, Castletown, with his wife, Marguerite Anne, until his death in 1975.

Sir George’s son, also called George, said: ‘He very much loved the Isle of Man. It was like a second home to him.

‘His mother actually lived in the Isle of Man until 1930, at a property called Thaneshurst, just outside Laxey, and he spent many happy holidays there as a young man.’

Sir George set up his Dowty company in 1931, and became a respected name in the aerospace industry, making undercarriage units for planes.

As well as aeroplane parts, he also invented the ‘Dowty Retarder’, which regulates the speed of railcars.

He found that when the war started, a lot of his employees had migrated to the Isle of Man.

Sir George set up his factory in Onchan and successfully maintained production of parts and undercarriages for warplanes such as the Hurricane, the Gladiator, the Barracuda and the famous Lancaster bomber.

George Dowty Jr said: ‘No aeroplane was ever downed through lack of a Dowty part.’

More than 90,000 undercarriages were manufactured during the war by the Dowty Group of companies.

Sir George still kept up his responsibilities as director after his retirement, flying from the island to Cheltenham, where he was born, to attend conferences.

George Jr said: ‘We had a small family cottage just outside Ballasalla and then when my father finally decided he wanted to retire he bought Balladoole House.’

The family spent their Easter holidays in the Isle of Man.

George Jr added: ‘My sister lived in the Isle of Man for many years but she recently passed away, but I don’t visit too often. I shall be coming back though, I love the Isle of Man.’

Former Dowty Group employee Martin Robins said: ‘One striking memory I have is of a memorandum he wrote in January 1974, instructing the financial director to ensure that all suppliers were paid on time, in the very difficult circumstances of the three-day week.’

Mr Robins is keen to celebrate Sir George and his life and is leading the call for a memorial. He asked that anyone with ideas for a memorial either in the island or in the UK, to contact him via email at [email protected].